What Are You Watching? NEWLY EXPANDED REMASTERED EDITION

[Steve T Power]

Finally got around to The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. For starters, Roger Deakins should have had that damned Oscar for Cinematography - There Will be Blood was drab and dull as hell next to this - i'd say this was about one of the most beautifully shot films i have ever seen. That aside, the script was great, the performances were stunning, and the collective whole is easily my new choice for best film of 2007, It's a ponderous and leisurely paced film, highly reminiscent of Terrance Malik (which basically means it ain't for everyone). Instead of following Malik's more contemplative state of mind though, it really gets you into the characters heads, and the historical narration was a nice touch. I won't say it deserves "true American Classic" status, but it definitely deserves to be held in high regard, and is one of the best films i've seen in a LONG time.

[Dan Mancini]

Roger Deakins should win an Oscar every year he shoots a movie. Anything less is a travesty of bogus movie award justice.

That is all.

[Dunnyman]

Watched the first part of Tin Man, and I have to say it's damned interesting. Resetting Oz as the O.Z. (Outer Zone), and having it be a mix of the wild west, a facist state, a land of magic and a bit of 1984 thrown in for good measure all make for a good time. Neal McDonough as the Tin Man is especially good as the tough former lawman, and Zooey Deschanel plays the wide eyed, but world weary DG with a nice mix of sarcasm and optimism. Oh yes, and Kathleen Robertson is smoking hot as the very bad girl.

Last of the Mohicans: Pretty cool to see Michael Mann doing something different. I hadn't seen the movie since VHS, so the directors cut was new to me. From what I've read the changes were a bit controversial, but I have to say I liked them (well maybe except for the preaching at the end). Definitely not one of Daniel Day Lewis' greatest roles, but it was nice to have someone underplay a film's hero for a change.

Actually, he was fine. That is until "I WILL FIND YOU!"...then you just couldn't take it seriously.

[Future Man]

Watched the first part of Tin Man, and I have to say it's damned interesting. Resetting Oz as the O.Z. (Outer Zone), and having it be a mix of the wild west, a facist state, a land of magic and a bit of 1984 thrown in for good measure all make for a good time. Neal McDonough as the Tin Man is especially good as the tough former lawman, and Zooey Deschanel plays the wide eyed, but world weary DG with a nice mix of sarcasm and optimism. Oh yes, and Kathleen Robertson is smoking hot as the very bad girl.

Is it ok for kids or more adult oriented?

[J.M. Vargas]

Watched 1986's Night of the Creeps (Showtime HD), Slither and Time Cop (the last two on HD-DVD) back-to-back-to-back. Other than John Carpenter regular Tom Atkins chewing his lines with gusto and the last 20 minutes picking up the pace from the dreadful 65 that preceded them there's very little noteworthy about "Creeps" other than 2006's "Slither" is so similar in tone and theme (but infinitely superior in execution) that it almost qualifies as a remake more than an homage. I didn't know who Nathan Fillion was when I saw "Slither" in theaters, so re-watching the flick fully aware of his Mal Reynolds persona increased the fun exponentially. "Time Cop" was a blast despite being a disposable Van Damme action flick with no bonus features whatsoever (on HD-DVD?) because the high-definition transfer is not only widescreen (first time in R1 "Time Cop" isn't cropped for 4x3 TV's) but razor-sharp. Ron Silver is so OTT as the heavy its laughable but director Peter Hyams (with Saimi Raimi and Rob Tapert producing) takes the plot just seriously-enough to make the flick work. "Sudden Death" (i.e. "Die Hard" on a hockey arena) remains my favorite Van Damme-Hyams colaboration but "Time Cop" isn't far behind in the brain-dead fun department.

[Future Man]

"Time Cop" was a blast despite being a disposable Van Damme action flick with no bonus features whatsoever (on HD-DVD?) because the high-definition transfer is not only widescreen (first time in R1 "Time Cop" isn't cropped for 4x3 TV's) but razor-sharp. Ron Silver is so OTT as the heavy its laughable but director Peter Hyams (with Saimi Raimi and Rob Tapert producing) takes the plot just seriously-enough to make the flick work. "Sudden Death" (i.e. "Die Hard" on a hockey arena) remains my favorite Van Damme-Hyams colaboration but "Time Cop" isn't far behind in the brain-dead fun department.

I saw it in the theater and while it had a great premise (and a very cool opening scene as I recall) it just wasn't executed very well overall.

[J.M. Vargas]

^^^ It's a Van Damme action flick from the mid-90's, what did you expect? That "Time Cop" has even a mildly interesting premise and workmanlike execution counts as a bonus measured against Jean Claude's kickboxing movie canon.

[Steve T Power]

What always bugged me about Timecop was that no one else on the planet was alive save for the principal cast. Mall in the opening sequence, the only three people there are Van Damme, his Girl, and the pursesnatcher. The Streets of DC are perpetually void of any living thing or traffic of any kind.

The whole flick feels wierd.

Hard Target will probably always be my fave Van Damme vehicle.

[J.M. Vargas]

What always bugged me about Timecop was that no one else on the planet was alive save for the principal cast. Mall in the opening sequence, the only three people there are Van Damme, his Girl, and the pursesnatcher. The Streets of DC are perpetually void of any living thing or traffic of any kind.

The producers probably blew most of their budget on paying Van Damme's salary (back when he could ask for more than your run-of-the-mill Jeff Speakman's or Don Wilson's) and those cool CG special effects (which weren't cheap back in '94) so they couldn't afford any extras for those exterior/mall scenes. It's cheaper to close a street/mall and film it empty than (a) hire extras or (b) shoot/edit around crowds of people standing around looking directly at the camera. Just more layers of delicious B movie cheese that make "Time Cop" fun repeat viewing (especially in high-def that makes many SFX shots look even more dated than they looked in theaters or DVD).

[B5Erik]

The Magnificent Seven Ride - A pale shadow of the original, but since the original was damned good that leaves this one enough room to still be entertaining. A lot of familiar faces show up in Ride, led (of course) by Lee Van Cleef, helping to add to the entertainment factor (let's face it, Lee Van Cleef was one hell of a bad ass). It's not a great western by any stretch of the imagination, but it's not bad, either.

[Andrew Forbes]

Event Horizon. Um... This was a lot better than I remembered/expected. Aside from a few moments of Anderson cheese, it's a damn solid Alien-meets-Hellraiser horror flick. Seriously impressive visuals certainly help.

[Steve T Power]

Event Horizon. Um... This was a lot better than I remembered/expected. Aside from a few moments of Anderson cheese, it's a damn solid Alien-meets-Hellraiser horror flick. Seriously impressive visuals certainly help.

Damn creepy too.

[molly1216]

Outlaw (2007) Bunch of middle class UK blokes feel the bad guys are having all the fun and start retaliating. fightclub with shaky cam, seriously Icut out more than half way through. Exemplary cast, predictable script and a camera that shakes like it's being held by Michael J Fox. pointlessly nauseating.

Lady of Burlesque - low brow wit murder mystery - Stanwyck shakes what little she has and her mouth moves faster than her hips. GD hayes office, for a movie that SHOULD be racy it has all the titillation of a tax audit.

Getting Gerties Garter, still one of my obscure favorite films...an american update of a french sex farce. Dennis O'keefe mugs it up trying to get a gifted garter back from his old girl friend. Lots of misunderstandings and slammed doors. Surprisingly for a low budget B movie it has some sparkling dialogue. Apparently it was so successful for the producer he reused the entire story again with Dennis O'Keefe for Up in Mabels room which i can't find a copy of...anyone have it?

King Kong '33 and King Kong '06. Funny, with the '33 I want to watch every second...King Kong remake I find myself skipping to the good parts. But either way, I root for kong to squash Carl Dedham all flat.

[BenShultz]

King Kong '33 and King Kong '05. Funny, with the '33 I want to watch every second...King Kong remake I find myself skipping to the good parts. But either way, I root for kong to squash Carl Denham all flat.

Fixed.

I agree with you on the Kong remake. I tried watching it again a few weeks ago, and it was the first time I realized how pointlessly long the first act is.

I still would like to see the 70's version, though.

[molly1216]

King Kong '33 and King Kong '05. Funny, with the '33 I want to watch every second...King Kong remake I find myself skipping to the good parts. But either way, I root for kong to squash Carl Denham all flat.

Fixed.
I agree with you on the Kong remake. I tried watching it again a few weeks ago, and it was the first time I realized how pointlessly long the first act is.
I still would like to see the 70's version, though.

Nah, you don't... I saw it new and have always wanted to wipe away the image of her asking Kong what his sign was .

[BenShultz]

King Kong '33 and King Kong '05. Funny, with the '33 I want to watch every second...King Kong remake I find myself skipping to the good parts. But either way, I root for kong to squash Carl Denham all flat.

Fixed.
I agree with you on the Kong remake. I tried watching it again a few weeks ago, and it was the first time I realized how pointlessly long the first act is.
I still would like to see the 70's version, though.

Nah, you don't... I saw it new and have always wanted to wipe away the image of her asking Kong what his sign was .

But that's the kind of stuff I'll be expecting. I love watching all those "infamous" films. It's part of the reason I blind-bought Southland Tales.

[J.M. Vargas]

Saw Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ on DVD last night because the Hispanic girlfriend of a co-worker (also Hispanic, like myself) heard I was an Atheist that was raised Catholic and doesn't celebrate Easter anymore. So she loaned me her disc of "Passion" to "save my soul" (my co-worker's words when he handed me the movie! ). As a technical achievement "Passion" is really well put together (excellent cinematography by Caleb Deschannel) plus, after decades of Hollywood Sandal Epics in which every character from foreign lands spoke perfect English, I admired that Gibson used English subtitles and the authentic Arameic language for dialogue. As a movie it's clearly a statement of faith for believers in this particular brand of religion (the very last shot actually sent shivers down my once-believing backside) but Gibson's fetish with the brutality used to torture/beat-up/crucify Jesus both overshadows the Christ figure's message (he's merely fodder for unrestrained depictions of violence in this flick) and exposes the double-standard the MPAA has for sexually explicit material. If ever there was a movie that deserved an NC-17 for violent content it is this one. And not to sound like an a**hole but, if you've read the book and know how the movie ends (which I assume its just about everyone, including people from other religions exposed to daily life in America), predictability and boredom set in pretty quickly only to be periodically broken by the aforementioned violent porn Gibson is apparently obsessed with. "Apocalypto" anyone?

I'm glad I finally saw "Passion" after all the noise its release made four years ago (!) but my soul is no closer to being saved after seeing it than it was after I saw the 2006 French remake of "Lady Chatterly" (unrated of course! ). Sorry believing co-worker's girlfriend!

[B5Erik]

Lady of Burlesque - low brow wit murder mystery - Stanwyck shakes what little she has and her mouth moves faster than her hips. GD hayes office, for a movie that SHOULD be racy it has all the titillation of a tax audit.

Yeah, but I still liked it anyway. I thought it was a nice little murder mystery in the 2nd half. Nothing earth shattering, but I thought it was a fun movie even with the Hayes office decrees. (Could it have been better? Sure, but it was still fairly good and I'll watch it again some day. If I ever get caught up on all the DVD's I've bought lately...)

[molly1216]

Lady of Burlesque - low brow wit murder mystery - Stanwyck shakes what little she has and her mouth moves faster than her hips. GD hayes office, for a movie that SHOULD be racy it has all the titillation of a tax audit.

Yeah, but I still liked it anyway. I thought it was a nice little murder mystery in the 2nd half. Nothing earth shattering, but I thought it was a fun movie even with the Hayes office decrees. (Could it have been better? Sure, but it was still fairly good and I'll watch it again some day. If I ever get caught up on all the DVD's I've bought lately...)

i guess i forgot to mention..i DO own it, and do like it - but it still lacks naughtiness.

[J.M. Vargas]

The Substitute and The Substitute 2: School's Out on HDNet Movies. I've come to appreaciate the gruff and tough persona of Tom Berenger more these days (when we're down to Sean Bean and Daniel Craig for our manly action men roles), especially with Treat Williams taking over for Tom as the lead of this particular sequel. Between "The Substitute" (which works rather well as an audience revenge fantasy) and "Sniper" Berenger had a nice string of leads in 'B' movies with Hollywood production values going (along with underrated work like "Last of the Dogmen") before disappearing into supporting role work. "Substitute 2" ups the violence considerable over the prequel but its direct-to-video production values sink it into forgettable status (even though both "Substitute" movies look OK in high-definition).

Also re-watched (and thoroughly enjoyed) Paul Anderson's Event Horizon with commentary track.

[hoytereden]

King Kong '33 and King Kong '05. Funny, with the '33 I want to watch every second...King Kong remake I find myself skipping to the good parts. But either way, I root for kong to squash Carl Denham all flat.

Fixed.
I agree with you on the Kong remake. I tried watching it again a few weeks ago, and it was the first time I realized how pointlessly long the first act is.
I still would like to see the 70's version, though.

Nah, you don't... I saw it new and have always wanted to wipe away the image of her asking Kong what his sign was .

I had that same feeling with the "ice skating" scene in the Jackson version and yes; Jack Black should have been flattened.

[tucco]

Hawaii Five-0 first three seasons. Love it, always did. Screw those new cop shows that resemble snuff films.
Some Seinfeld seasons 3,4. Only now does it seem dated, though mainly due to the clothing and lack of cell phones.
All In The Family. never get tired of it , though I'm waiting for the seventh season to come out already.
THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK. the Darfur docu.
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.
IRON MAIDEN:LIVE AFTER DEATH/HISTORY OF MAIDEN PT. 2
MAFIOSO.
THE NAKED PREY
Would you believe all the above titles except for the iron maided were gotten from my library? pretty awesome system we have. The have just about everything, you can order from one lirary if the one you go to doesn't have what you want.
They are very up on Criterion titles as well, so I have learned to wait for my copy to arrive rather then spend the ridiculous money they want for alot of them.

[B5Erik]

Zatoichi Meets the One Armed Swordsman - A solid, if slightly uninspired entry in the series. There were some good ideas there, though - like Zatoichi and the One Armed Swordsman not able to communicate as neither spoke the other's language (Zatoichi speaking Japanese and the One Armed Swordsman speaking some Chinese dialect). Having watched The One Armed Swordsman a couple months ago, I thought they really did a good job bringing that character into Zatoichi's world. Some of the plot was just uninspired. Still, it's a good entry in the Zatoichi series overall.

[J.M. Vargas]

Watched Stanley Kubrick's The Shining and George Roy Hill's The Sting back-to-back last night (both on HD-DVD). Both flicks are named "The S...." and both feature beloved black characters (Hallorann in "Shining" and Luther in "Sting") killed and then called 'n*****' gratuitously! Picture-wise "The Shining" looks stellar in high-definition but not as breath-taking as "2001: A Space Odyssey." "The Sting" doesn't look noticeably better in high-def than regular DVD (some shots look sharper and others very grainy, sometimes within the very same scene) but since it will only be played on an HDTV the increase in rez does wonders for small details in backdrops, clothing, close-ups, etc. Neither flick is a show-off piece for high-def but for lovers of cinema anything to help one's immersion into the flick's world helps.

After seeing it a half-a-dozen times already it continues to amaze me that Kubrick's interpretation of King's book actually works at all. It's obvious from the opening scene that Jack Torrance is going to implode, his wife & kid don't make for sympathetic victims (Duvall's performance is so mannered is distracting) and Kubrick telegraphs every scare 10 miles away (including the 'corridor of blood' shot shown very early on and in the theatrical trailer). Maybe after seeing "There Will Be Blood" I'm more aware of needlessly scary music during otherwise routine scenes but in "The Shining" its a maddening nuisance for the first two thirds of the film. And yet the final third of the movie works brilliantly precisely because it uses the same techniques that bogged down the first two thirds to great cumulative effect. It still bugs me that Hallorann went back to the hotel without a knife, gun or some sort of weapon to confront whatever it was he expected to encounter. If he was aware enough of the haunted hotel's troubled past and Danny's 'shining' abilities then why not bring something other than his good looks in his return trip? The one scene that for me spoils the near-perfection that "The Shining" earns during its final act (which redeems the predictable set-up bulk of the movie) is when Grady unlocks the storage room door where Jack's been locked by his wife. Remove that scene and every horrible vision and incident that happens to all three characters can be conceivably explained as either mental instability, alcohol-induced paranoia or 'cabin fever' isolation. By having 'something' unlocking Jack from the storage room Kubrick tips the scales firmly into the ghostly realm instead of a 'Rashomon"-type horror experience in which audiences could be equally divided thinking it was just plain lunacy that made Torrance snap (and his wife/kid see and do weird things). A flawed masterpiece that makes its own rules that no other horror flick could live/operate under.

The main plot of "The Sting" feels really dated (especially in the current era of perpetually-topping unexpected movie finales) if you already know how the con goes down. This frees one's eye/mind to wonder at the attention to detail put into the production design (which shines in high-def), Hamlish's playful musical score and the fun the actors are having. I loved Harold Gould as Kid Twist and "McGyver's" Dana Elcar, plus Charles Durning's Lt. Snyder is so close to George Dzundza's Det. Greevy from "Law & Order" it isn't funny. It's a shame for all the Oscars it won (and that it reunites the actors/director of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid") that there are precious few scenes in which Newman and Redford are actually together on-screen. I thought I'd be bored by "The Sting" but other than the dialogue sounding awfully forced to be a PG family-friendly flick (except for the couple of 'n*****' bombs) it was a blast.

[azul017]

Juno - Finally saw this flick yesterday, and it was a pleasant film if a bit too heavy with I'm-clever-with-pop-culture dialogue. Still Diablo Cody's debut as screenwriter is very impressive and Ellen Page absolutely steals the show. But for a film that has Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman as supporting roles, I expected them to stand out a bit more.

Monster-in-Law - For all the critical drubbing it got, I found myself laughing far more than I expected. Formulaic and cliched to a "t", it's an entertaining if disposable rom-com.

Hot Fuzz - Awesome flick. Both a parody of and a loving homage to every kind of action flick, it's both surprisingly smart and brings in the action goods. This certainly deserves the praise it got, although I'm still befuddled over why people just love the filmmakers' previous Shawn of the Dead.

[B5Erik]

Steamboy - Great animation, fun adventure, great voice talent. It is a bit too long, and takes a decidedly anti-capitalist, anti-military political point of view, but it's still a lot of fun to watch. I've never seen Akira (or any other anime, for that matter), so I watched this one with no preconceptions or expectations. Well worth the $3 I spent on it at Big/Lots!

[HGervais]

This certainly deserves the praise it got, although I'm still befuddled over why people just love the filmmakers' previous Shawn of the Dead.

Because Shaun of the Dead is just about a perfect zombie parody that is also a really good zombie movie in its own right? Lol...I'm befuddled by people who don't love Shaun of the Dead.

[azul017]

See, Harold, I think Shawn of the Dead is amusing and has the goods for a rom-com/zombie flick, but I expected a lot more. Hot Fuzz actually lives up to the hype.

[Andrew Forbes]

See, Harold, I think Shawn of the Dead is amusing and has the goods for a rom-com/zombie flick, but I expected a lot more. Hot Fuzz actually lives up to the hype.

I'm the opposite way. I really enjoy HF, but SotD feels like a much stronger film, overall.

[Andrew Forbes]

Payback theatrical. I hadn't seen this in quite some time and, having seen both cuts, I far prefer the director's cut. The theatrical cut has a number of things working against it. The kidnapping scenes are more than a bit cheesy. All of the additional footage is obviously done on generic sets. The biggest issue, however, is Mel's voice over. He's really overdoing it, and the character ends up seeming far too smug to be likeable. In the DC he is a bastard, but a charming one. Here he's just a self-satisfied prick spouting clichés. I still like this cut, but not nearly as much as the other.

Tales from the Gimli Hospital. Similar in many ways to Maddin's Archangel, but with tighter editing and more humor. I really enjoyed this small town, nordic myth as told in nightmare logic. Definitely not for everyone, but if you click with Maddin's style, it's well worth seeing. I imagine many people would find that it drags, but the visuals and music kept me engaged. The narrator's voice really bothered me, though. She's one of those people that sounds-out every smack of saliva when she speaks into a mic. Gross. Fortunately, he role was limited.

[J.M. Vargas]

Watched For Love of the Game and Notting Hill (both HD-DVD) back-to-back last night. The former only looked OK in high-def (the CG baseball crowds at Yankee Stadium haven't aged well) and massive amounts of edge enhancement are visible (sign that an older DVD film transfer was used to mint this HD-DVD) but "Notting Hill" looks razor-sharp and vibrant in high-definition. I've never been a Julia Roberts fan but damn if she and Hugh Grant don't look picture-perfect at 1080p rez.

Both "For Love of the Game" and "Notting Hill" are Universal movies that came out the same year (1999) that have basically the same basic premise: self-doubting, down-to-Earth big celebrity meets self-doubting, down-to-Earth average person of the opposite sex. These celebrity & civilian couples (Kevin Costner & Kelly Preston in "...Game" and Julia Roberts & Hugh Grant in "Notting Hill") are clearly meant for each other but their respective movies throw every cliche' in the romantic genre playbook (misunderstandings, inability to communicate, nutty friends/relatives, etc.) on their way to a predictable conclusion. What makes "Notting Hill's" romantic fantasy infinitely more enjoyable than "For Love of the Game's" baseball soap-opera (which unfold as flashbacks during a single baseball game) is that "Notting Hill" doesn't take itself seriously, uses humor (courtesy of the cast/crew from "Four Weddings and a Funeral") to difuse the romantic tension, takes place over several months and concentrates most of its screen time on its quirky middle-class English setting. We spend more time hanging with William Thacker's wack pack of friends/relatives and watching Anna Scott gradually fall for them than in the fish-out-of-water celebrity trappings. The birthday dinner scene where Julia Roberts try to get the last brownie by competing with the Brits on the table for saddest story is both hilarious and classic. Sometimes a celebrity playing a version of him/herself can work wonderfully if the vehicle/script/director are right, and Roberts is game.

By contrast Sam Raimi's deadly-serious and workmanlike treatment of Michael Shaara's baseball novel (which beatifies Kevin Costner's Bill Chapel character to such a degree I half-expected a CG halo above Kevin's head) spends the bulk of its on-screen time in Chapel's celebrity/sports world with Jane coming to terms with his attraction. Except for John C. Reilly's catcher, Jena Malone's rebel daughter and JK Simmons' coach (whom Raimi met on this movie and remembered when it came time to cast JJ Jameson for "Spider-Man") there are few quirky supporting performances to inject much needed humor/amusement into the increasingly tiresome romantic back-and-forth between Bill and Jane. "For Love of the Game" is a personal guilty pleasure of mine precisely because it embraces its chick flick cliches (right down to an ending where pitching a perfect baseball game is secondary to the love of a woman), doesn't appear to have a sense of humor and its so atypical from every other movie Sam Raimi has directed. I also have a soft spot for Kevin Costner bombs from the mid-to-late 90's and early 2000's because I've found them to be decent flicks that didn't deserve to tank as hard as they did at the time (although Kevin was coasting on the same basic middle-aged white guy character since "Dances With Wolves" up until he changed gears completely last year in "Mr. Brooks").

[Andrew Forbes]

The Searchers. I liked it. Hank Worden gives the worst performance I have ever seen in a major film.

[B5Erik]

The Searchers. I liked it. Hank Worden gives the worst performance I have ever seen in a major film.

That was his schtick. He made one hell of a career out of it. How much of that was his real speech pattern, and how much was exaggerated I have no idea - but that's basically what he did in every one of his appearances that I've seen (about 20 out of his 205 appearances on film or TV).

John Wayne and John Ford must have loved the guy, because they both cast him in several movies over the course of 30 years!

[B5Erik]

Jackie Chan's First Strike - I haven't seen this since it's theatrical run 11 years ago. I've owned the DVD for about 7 years, but just now got around to watching it! I'd love to see the original Hong Kong edit to compare the two, but this is one hell of an entertaining movie. Jackie Chan is in top stunt form here. This time it's a bit of a James Bond take on Jackie's long running Hong Kong cop Police Story series. And the fight with the chairs and ladder and pool cues - that's a classic! Fun stuff.

[Gabriel Girard]

Explorers - I just love this movie. It's funny, has good carachters and is just plain fun. Some people are put off by the ending but I quite enjoy it. Yes it could have been better and more serious à la The Abyss - but I love it it just for being so weird.

Enchanted - Enjoyed it way more than I thought I would! Very well made, really funny and even the sweet stuff works. Amy Adams was just perfect in every sce , and the songs were very entertaining too. As soon as I saw the drawing of Nathaniel - I knew Timothy Spall would play the role. I mainly rented it because I knew my mom would love it - she did and so did my 13 and 15 year old brothers!

[HGervais]

The niece & the nephew are spending the night and we watched:
The Bee Movie...if you like Jerry Seinfeld, you will enjoy Bee Movie. It is very much a Seinfeld project and I will say Patrick Warburton is one of the funniest people alive.
The Monster Squad...which they both loved....the kids wanted more vampires so I popped in the original Nosteratu....the 5 year old really enjoyed it and thought it was scary while the 9 year old said it was boring but sat through the entire thing without complaining.

[J.M. Vargas]

Unwrapped the Blu-ray of Roland Emmerich's Stargate to see/hear the movie with commentary. Boy is this a s*** transfer (worse than upconverted DVD) with a ton of mistakes (no subtitled translation for Ra's dialogue??!!), the first time I felt cheated out of the promise of the high-definition experience by one of the two formats (although the soundtrack was booming when Dean Devlin and Emmerich were quiet). The HD transfer of "Stargate" I saw on Universal HD absolutely destroys this Blu-ray transfer, yet ironically I enjoyed turning off the brain completely to hear the commentary about how the movie (which has grown on me the only two times I've seen it) pretty much handed to the TV people that made the TV series all the elements (premise, characters, music, etc.) on a silver platter. Since I started watching "Stargate SG-1" in year 8 (when the "Battlestar Galactica" TV series premiered) and I don't watch the repeats on Sci-Fi maybe its time I took a look at the first 7 seasons of "SG-1" on DVD.

Also watched Sister Street Fighter: The Return of Sister Street Fighter (!) on Showtime HD. Typical Etsuko Shohomi martial arts vehicle from the 1970's that unfortunately has way too many missed punches/kicks registering (I know that's part of the charm but in this flick its way too noticeable the bad guys around Shihomi are dropping on their own) and not enough outrageous martial arts stunts to compensate for the paper-thin plot. At 78 minutes and with hardly any plot getting in the way of the constant fighting the movie is moderate fun if you're in the mood for exploitation grindhouse fodder. Loved the tournament where henchmen (including two black dudes dressed as African tribesmen and a Lee Van Cleef impersonator! ) compete for the privilege of who will go after 'the dragon lady.' I can totally picture Quentin Tarantino waking up and watching this first-thing in the morning instead of "The Today Show."

[Andrew Forbes]

The Searchers. I liked it. Hank Worden gives the worst performance I have ever seen in a major film.

That was his schtick. He made one hell of a career out of it. How much of that was his real speech pattern, and how much was exaggerated I have no idea - but that's basically what he did in every one of his appearances that I've seen (about 20 out of his 205 appearances on film or TV).

John Wayne and John Ford must have loved the guy, because they both cast him in several movies over the course of 30 years!

That's a shame. Now I'm far less interested in exploring Ford's work with Wayne. Any sense of reality or tension The Searchers built up was instantly destroyed whenever Worden came on screen. It was especially frustrating because Wayne's performance had a raw edge to it that I haven't seen in many pre-60s westerns.

[Dunnyman]

Finally finished Tin Man, and it's pretty good, but whoever did the score should have been slapped. The exact same fanfare is used for every scene of action! I have never listened to a worse score in any film. Apparently they wrote three bits, the "approaching menace", the "action score" and the "sentimental flashback" and just repeated them endlessly! No variations, no changing to different key, just...here it is again!
Also finally watched this week's South Park. One sick, twisted, and absolutely hilarious episode.

[Dan Mancini]

John Wayne and John Ford must have loved the guy, because they both cast him in several movies over the course of 30 years!

Worden was a real cowboy, which means Ford couldn't've cared less about his acting abilities (or lack thereof). You could pretty much be instantly hired to act in a John Ford movie (or 30) if you met at least one of the requirements from each of the following lists:

1. You're a cowboy.
2. You're a combat veteran (extra points for being in the Navy or Marines).
3. You're a sailor and/or dude who digs game fishing.
4. You're at least a college athlete (pro is even better).
4. You're the walking embodiment of a character in a Hemingway novel.

and

1. You never drink water unless it's mixed with 3 parts scotch (which in turn is being used to chase a beer).
2. You can handle yourself in a fistfight.
3. You chase skirts.
4. You're able to intimidate Ford to the point of tears with your raw manliness, but willing to act like he's tougher than you because he signs your paychecks.

And, chamucamel, if Worden's performance in The Searchers is the worst you've ever seen, then stay away from Sgt. Rutledge. Woody Strode (who was a total badass) stinks up the screen so badly every time he opens his mouth that I shudder to think about it. And he's basically the star of the picture (or at least shared equal billing with Jeffrey Hunter).

[Andrew Forbes]

Finally finished Tin Man, and it's pretty good, but whoever did the score should have been slapped. The exact same fanfare is used for every scene of action! I have never listened to a worse score in any film. Apparently they wrote three bits, the "approaching menace", the "action score" and the "sentimental flashback" and just repeated them endlessly! No variations, no changing to different key, just...here it is again!

So it's like the score to Twin Peaks, but with more variety?

[J.M. Vargas]

Also finally watched this week's South Park. One sick, twisted, and absolutely hilarious episode.

Any TV show (and a cartoon at that) which can make me feel sorry for Britney Spears while simultaneously making me laugh my head off at her has got to be the work of geniuses. Oddly enough me and a co-worker for years have been doing the same thing with "The Omen" score that the "South Park" characters did on last week's episode!

[HGervais]

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency....absolutely marvelous stuff. Anthony Minghella's last film is my favorite of his work. Between the beautiful Botswana scenery, the multiple storylines that Minghella & Richard Curtis weave together so wonderfully and Jill Scott's great performance as Mma Precious Ramotswe, the ladies deserve your time be it on bit torrent, you tube or eventually HBO. Completely winning stuff.

[Andrew Forbes]

Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast. Awesome movie.

[B5Erik]

Hulk - This was better than I remembered. The ending's still a mess, and the Hulk doesn't look as "real" as the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park did (from 10 years earlier, no less), but the movie has a fairly solid story - and I love Sam Elliott, he was the perfect General Ross. The comic panel editing was overdone a bit, but on viewing it again, it wasn't quite as overdone as I remembered - and it was more effective than I had remembered, too. My memory gave this thing a 6/10, but now I'm thinking it's more a 7/10.

[SkeetSkeet]

Night on Earth (1991) - Cool movie. Original, funny, and thought provoking.

The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) - Good but not great action movie. Some hokey scenes. Samuel L. Jackson and Geena Davis are great in it. Some pretty funny scenes too.

Zodiac (2007) - Awesome. A movie based on true events done right. One of the best from last year.

I Am Legend (2007) - Good, but not great. First hour was better than the last. Could have been better. Really crappy CGI.

An American Werewolf in London (1981) - Cool cult film. A funny horror flick, and doesn't take itself seriously at all. Hot nurse.

Along Came a Spider (2001) - StOOpid. Morgan Freeman is great as usual, but the movie itself was totally unoriginal and boooooring (at least to me). I think I fell asleep. Guess I'll have to watch the rest to see if there is another "twist" coming. Oh boy!

[Andrew Forbes]

the Hulk doesn't look as "real" as the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park did (from 10 years earlier, no less)

I recommend that you watch Jurassic Park again.

[Ash22]

Beowulf
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

[B5Erik]

Battlestar Galactica Season 2 - Ok, I just finished the season, I've been watching it over the course of the last month. GREAT season. Better than season 1. My only gripe is that they tried to throw too much into the final two parter - especially the 2nd part. Jumping ahead a year made that whole transition seem REALLY rushed, and the last 15 or so minutes of the episode were chaotic and looked like a highlights clip to get you caught up on the last several episodes. Other than that, it was great. I've got season 3 coming my way in the next week or so, until then I've got Razor to watch...

[B5Erik]

the Hulk doesn't look as "real" as the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park did (from 10 years earlier, no less)

I recommend that you watch Jurassic Park again.

I've actually seen Jurassic Park a couple times in the last 18 months or so.

I thought the Hulk from Ang Lee's movie looked like something out of Shrek 2. Sure, they were great 3D graphics and all the details were there (just like some of the characters in Shrek 2 or 3), but it looked a little TOO cartoony, even for a comic book movie. And when the Hulk was in motion a lot of the details got lost.

That wasn't true of the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park (not noticeably, anyway).

But, like I said, the movie was better than I remembered (other than the ending).